O'FALLON, Ill. — Drum roll, please!
Performing in the 2023 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will be ... the O'Fallon Township High School Marching Panthers!
That's right! The O'Fallon, Illinois, marching band learned they'll be headed to New York City to perform in next year's parade in a surprise announcement Wednesday afternoon.
The school was picked out of hundreds of applicants nationwide and will be only one of ten marching bands in the parade's 97th edition, according to a press release.
Macy's Parade staff worked secretly with the school and O'Fallon Township band director Melissa Gustafson-Hinds to surprise members of the marching band with the good news Wednesday. Only a handful of staff at the school knew about the exciting announcement.
"Everyone was always coming up with different rumors of what we're going to do. Oh we're going to France or something, or some place in Hawaii, right?" said Brayden Korstad, a member of the marching band. "And I was so excited because like last year we got to go to the Rose Bowl parade, and then we're doing this, and it's like we're just getting on and doing even more stuff with this whole experience."
As part of the surprise, Macy's gave the band $10,000 to help it plan for the parade. The marching band is no stranger to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. They've performed twice before in the parade.
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade isn't the only national parade the band has performed for. They recently marched in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade this past New Year's Day.